Re: Lang Lang new album - 06/27/0608:02 AM

I'm only interested to hear LL's Yellow River Concerto. I'd like to hear how his playing compares with other versions I have...

As to the other Chinese repertoir Marco Polo, BIS and more recently Naxos all have recorded something here and there. I'm familiar with most of them even though I find little interest in the music itself.

Re: Lang Lang new album - 06/27/0611:17 AM

I am definitely looking forward to his interpretation of the Yellow River Concerto. So far, I'm not fond of the recordings of that concerto (by Yin Chengzong, etc.) because of the horrible strident quality of the tones of the pianos they used to record it. The others pieces...I don't know. Let's see.

Re: Lang Lang new album - 06/27/0611:30 AM

LOL I didn't know what the Yellow River Concerto was, but when I heard an exerpt, I immediately knew it. The theme, simplified of course, is one of the first pieces I learnt (just 8 bars or something, very easy version).

Re: Lang Lang new album - 09/29/0705:54 AM

Re: Lang Lang new album - 09/29/0710:22 AM

I respect Lang Lang for his qualities, of course there are flaws in his playing, but he does some fantastic things too.I'm not the biggest fan of his, but as I said I respect some of the things he does.

Re: Lang Lang new album - 09/29/0712:56 PM

A dead thread resurrected? Anyway, this is a duo-disc packet. It contains an audio-CD and a DVD documentary plus all the CD-track music in video. The Yellow River Piano Concerto on the DVD is a circus act item to me. It's performed in a giant stadium with LL BBing on the Pearl River concert grand accompanied by four orchestras. On each side of LL's concert grand there are additional 50 young girl pianists playing chords on 50 more baby grands. Yes, altogether 101 pianos.

(Though you have to first sit through 3~4 minutes of BS before it gets to the concerto performance. Hat tip to daifanshi .)

[EDIT:

Quote:

AndrewG commented:

The Yellow River Piano Concerto on the DVD is a circus act item to me. It's performed in a giant stadium with LL BBing on the Pearl River concert grand accompanied by four orchestras. On each side of LL's concert grand there are additional 50 young girl pianists playing chords on 50 more baby grands. Yes, altogher 101 pianos.

OK... I YouTube'd that performance, and I agree with your assessment. I like the excerpt I linked to much better.]

Re: Lang Lang new album - 09/30/0706:08 PM

Re: Lang Lang new album - 10/03/0701:22 AM

Track 10 Spring Wind, one of the few pieces in the album that I don't find strangely strident, is the #1 "quasi" folk song from Taiwan (which explains why LL never performs it in concert). You need something more to put it in context to appreciate it ... I found this partial "quasi" translation (it's really a song about *** awakening :-):

" ......Spring's breeze caressing my face, I sit alone by the lamp. It's the guy I saw today, in my mind. Flushed and speechless I let him pass by.Don't know who he is, because I was shy......."

Track 11 Happy Times, which LL was so fond of performing, didn't he sound careless and skip a beat? One of my least favorit piece.

Re: Lang Lang new album - 10/03/0710:45 PM

Quoting AndrewG:

"The Yellow River Piano Concerto on the DVD is a circus act item to me. It's performed in a giant stadium with LL BBing on the Pearl River concert grand accompanied by four orchestras. On each side of LL's concert grand there are additional 50 young girl pianists playing chords on 50 more baby grands. Yes, altogether 101 pianos."